Republican Lies , their connection to our looming Doctor Shortage and Corporate Power (+)

by: lightseeker
Sat Jul 23, 2011 at 14:33:14 PM CDT

Why were doctors supposed to flow to Texas after the passage of Proposition 12 in 2003 ?? It was because the law stopped the horrible abuse of malpractice suits and thus prevented the impending doctor shortage by making us a mecca of law suit sanity. Well.... Baby, I Lied Proposition 12, and the far-reaching changes in Texas civil law that it dragged behind it, was built on a foundation of mistruths and sketchy assumptions. The number of doctors in the state was not falling, it was steadily rising, according to Texas Medical Board data. There was little statistical evidence showing that frivolous lawsuits were a significant force driving increases in malpractice premiums. Perhaps the most insidious sleight of hand employed by Proposition 12 backers was their repeated insistence that medical malpractice insurance rates were somehow responsible for doctor shortages in rural Texas. That lie is still alive and well from 2011: Doctors tout Texas' brand of tort reform WASHINGTON - Dozens of Texas ER doctors swarmed Capitol Hill this week to tell lawmakers that the Lone Star State has just the prescription for what ails a health care industry burdened by runaway costs: limiting big-bucks lawsuits against physicians. That's what Texas did in 2003, when the Legislature placed a cap on the so-called "noneconomic" damages that can be awarded in medical liability cases. The reform's supporters say it protects doctors from "frivolous" lawsuits that ultimately drive up insurance premiums - and also makes the state an enormously popular destination for doctors, a key selling point as experts warn the nation may need 150,000 more physicians to treat the newly insured once the federal health care law takes effect. "The real benefit in Texas has been more doctors - over 21,000 new doctors - since tort reform was passed in 2003," said U.S. Rep.Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands .... "For families in the suburbs and rural areas of Texas, that means access to local specialists in emergency and children's care that simply didn't exist before." ' What Brady did not say was how many of these "new doctors" came to Texas or stayed in Texas because of the law suit reforms legislation. Given the lying on this issue that goes back 10 years, I don't trust this number at all. lightseeker :: Republican Lies , their connection to our looming Doctor Shortage and Corporate Power

In fact there was no shortage to drive the need for reform a decade ago! But now we discover that a doctor shortage is indeed upon us, in spite of the malpractice free environment Perry and the repubs created while Democrats thrashed about helplessly and the average citizen just knew that this was a BIG problem. I mean the media said so and so did Perry et. al. This year, the leg continued their assault on consumer rights: Loser-Pays Bill Clears Texas House The bill enacts a modified loser-pays rule that allows winning parties to recover litigation costs in breach of contract suits or if a judge grants a motion to dismiss. (On the floor, Creighton offered an amendment, which was accepted, that would make it only apply in situations in which parties have not already made an contractual attorneys' fees arrangement.) It directs the Texas Supreme Court to create a procedure for the early dismissal of certain civil claims and expedites the discovery process for cases with claims between $500 and $100,000. And, most objectionable to some Democrats and the plaintiff's bar, it contains a provision that awards attorneys' fees to defendants if they make an offer to settle, and it's turned down - if the jury finds for the plaintiff and makes an award less than 80 percent of the initial settlement offer. Current law allows defendants to recover attorneys' fees in that scenario - but it limits the amount defendants can recover to less than whatever the plaintiff finally wins. Creighton's legislation removes that limit. For example, if a defendant made a settlement offer of $100,000 and the plaintiff rejected it, then went on to win the suit, but only with an award of $79,000, that would mean the plaintiff would have to pay the opposing party's legal costs - even if that added up to more than the final award. That prompted Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, to dub the legislation the "the loser pays and sometimes the winner pays, too" bill. ... But many in the legal community believe loser-pays provisions obstruct all litigation - without regard to merit - and keep those with plausible legal claims from seeking justice. Civil rights advocates also say loser-pays rules unfairly target the poor because they add a greater financial risk to bringing litigation. And legal scholars aren't persuaded that a frivolous lawsuit problem even exists. According to Charles Silver, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, no serious academic study outside of the context of securities class actions has found it to be an issue in the U.S. There is a pattern here: Repubs claim a non-existent problem, provide a non-solution helpful to their sugar daddies and mommiies (corporations, Righteous Right, Tea Parties) , raise, stir and repeat. Today this: Funding for Texas doctor training at risk

Texas teaching hospitals are bracing for a big hit in the federal deficit-reduction plans under consideration, just a few weeks after the state Legislature slashed funding to the same doctortraining programs. The cuts will exacerbate a crisis in which Texas, ranked 42nd in the number of physicians per population, loses potential doctors because the state doesn't have enough residency slots to train the medical students it pays to educate. Congrads Rick, you finally have a doctor shortage crisis to confront. Maybe we can pray it away in August at your Pray-Palooza. Oh, did you notice where malpractice friendly Texas ranks in the number of doctors relative to all the other states? That right 42th. But the malpractice reform was never intended to solve a doctor shortage was it Rick? It was a red herring to distract attention form the legislature's sweeping empowerment of corporations over consumers in law suits charging corporate fraud, misrepresentation, shoddy products or services. In the case of Texas, it was part of Rick Perry's paybacks to people like Jim Perry of Perry Homes. You sign away your right to sue when you sign on the dotted line. You must agree to binding arbitration if you have grievances about your new home. In a one party state, bad things happen to ordinary people. They are not informed enough about complex policy games that make their lives harder . This lack of clarity is both intentional and malevolent. Who knew that reforming doctor malpractice suits would end up taking away your rights as a home buyer? The people who should be helping average citizens in this highly complex and technical public issue environment are the opposition party and the press. In Texas, up to this point, both have failed us miserably . I mean the lies about doctor shortages and law suit abuses are over 10 years old. They get repeated because nobody, not the Texas Democratic Party, not the press drives a stalk their their black lying hearts. Having solved the non-problem of a doctor shortage a decade ago with a non-solution we have seen the number of doctors in Texas go down for real, if unknown reasons. We didn't bother to pay attention to this problem because it had already been solved! Now we add the impact of Perry's lies and budgeting tricks that have given us a 19 billion dollar hole in our state budget and we end up with the mess we now face - a current doctor shortage, a looming larger one and no money to pay for the real solution right before our eyes. Ignorance , whatever its source, is so much more expensive than paying attention and trying to sort out the facts. It always is.... Tags: Republic Lies, Doctor Shortage, law suit reform, corporate power, budget deficit